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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

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Defector

The Defector Crewneck Sweatshirt Is Back In Stock

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Merch v3


<p>charismatic megafauna (they/them)</p>


Typing

Sabrina Imbler

A photo of Sara Hugentobler, a USFWS fish biologist, in the lab extracting DNA

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Interviews

An Interview With A Fired USFWS Fish Biologist

a photo of Kate Wheeler, a former USDA farm to school specialist. Kate has short brown hair and is smiling in front of several painted planks

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An Interview With A Fired USDA Specialist

a selfie of Sarah Cooley, the former director of NOAA's ocean acidification program, with an orange life vest on a river

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An Interview With A Fired NOAA Director

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<div class="p-rich_text_section">Tom Scocca is the editor of <a href="http://indignity.net">Indignity</a>, a subscription-supported newsletter of news, essays, and commentary.</div>
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Tom Scocca

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) walks back towards the senate side of the building at the U.S. Capitol on March 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. Tensions have flared over the shutdown within the Democratic caucus after Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced Thursday that he will vote to advance a House-passed six-month government funding bill, despite opposition from many Democrats who argue it would create a "slush fund" for former President Trump and Elon Musk.

schumer

Margin Of Error

Chuck Schumer Is Responsible

a photo of Sabrina Valenti, formerly a budget analyst for NOAA. Sabrina has brown curly hair and is standing against a floral background.

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An Interview With A Fired NOAA Budget Analyst

<p>Staff Writer</p>
<p>Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.09</p>


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Chris Thompson

The Virgin River flows through the valley floor as viewed on November 9, 2019 in Zion National Park, Utah

Zion National Park

Politics

Why Bully The National Park Service?

a photo of Kaesee Bourne, a former fish and wildlife biologist at the USFWS, holding a shovel in front of a wetland

kaesee bourne

An Interview With A Fired USFWS Biologist

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, behind a podium at a press conference, looking like doofuses.

Schumer Jeffries DOGE Presser

This Is Uvalde

Dennis M. Hogan

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - FEBRUARY 19: People including researchers from Chicago area universities gather on the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) campus to voice concerns about the potential loss of federal funding for medical research on February 19, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. The researchers are worried about the future of their projects as the Trump administration cuts grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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The NIH Cuts Are Part Of An All-Out War On Higher Education

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Patrick Redford

A canyon and waterfall in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

Yellowstone National Park Exteriors And Landmarks – 2021

The Great Outdoors

What Are Public Lands For?

NYPD officers prepare to make arrests during a rally and a march in Manhattan to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recent raids and crackdown on migrants in New York. New York City, U.S., February 13, 2025.

Rally against ICE in New York

The Country That Was Here Is Gone

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David Roth

People organize a rally and demonstration against Elon Musk outside the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in Washington D.C., United States on February 03, 2025.

Protesters rally against Elon Musk outside U.S. Office of Personnel Management in Washington D.C.

Billionaire Dipshit And His Strike Team Of Greasy Beavises Are Stripping The Wires From The Federal Government

DOGE